Ian and Sylvia - Play One More (Vanguard, 1966)

With this being the ninth post devoted to Canadian folk duo Ian and Sylvia, I'm getting pretty close to running out of things to write about them in general. Obviously, I'm a big fan, a situation aided by their prolific nature as recording artists during the 1960s. One can still find used copies of their LPs without extraordinary effort and at reasonable prices. While Ian and Sylvia always remained faithful to their folk roots, they also were not apprehensive about letting their music evolve and embracing the changes of that aforementioned decade on their own terms. Such an approach did not always yield successful results, although more often than not it did. The 1960s folk revival produced few other musicians who not only wrote much of their own material but could also cover old British Isles ballads and new compositions by Greenwich Village troubadours with equal skill.


Released in 1966, Play One More marks a transitional stage of the pair's career in between their earlier, more straightforward folk albums and the baroque folk rock/country efforts that came afterward. Even though some tracks feature the all-acoustic instrumentation that typified the sound of previous Vanguard releases, others are conspicuous by their inclusion of organ or orchestral arrangements. Additionally, this is the LP on which Ian's former profession as a rodeo rider really makes itself apparent in many of the songs, giving it a pronounced country-and-western-by-way-of-Canada flavor. Performances of this variety include originals "Short Grass" and the title track (which effectively utilizes horns much in the same manner as "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash), readings of the traditional "When I Was a Cowboy" and "Molly and Tenbrooks" (the latter being a showcase for some outstanding banjo picking by Eric Weissberg), and fantastic covers of the more recent (relative to the mid 1960s, that is) "Twenty-Four Hours from Tulsa" and "A Satisfied Mind." While perhaps not as well-known as "Four Strong Winds" and "You Were on My Mind," the dolorous "French Girl" (on which bassist Felix Pappalardi arranged the string section) proved to be influential enough to warrant interpretations by contemporary folk rockers Gene Clark and the Daily Flash to name but two. Speaking of cover versions, Ian and Sylvia's take on Phil Ochs's "Changes" compares extremely favorably with the original, and they even manage to make lightweight Scott McKenzie's "Hey What About Me" palatable. The pleasant "Lonely Girls" and "Friends of Mine" recall performances from their earlier albums, although my least favorite track, "Gifts Are for Giving," would have been an awkward fit on just about anything in their discography.

IAN AND SYLVIA SOMEWHERE ON THE PLAINS OF ALBERTA

1. Short Grass
2. The French Girl
3. When I Was a Cowboy
4. Changes
5. Gifts Are for Giving
6. Molly and Tenbrooks
7. Hey What About Me
8. Lonely Girls
9. Satisfied Mind
10. Twenty-Four Hours from Tulsa
11. Friends of Mine
12. Play One More